Means for interpreting code messages.



E. H. HEBERN. I MEANS FOR INTERPRETING CODE MESSAGES;

APPLIOATION FILED MAR.11, 1912.

Patented May 12,1914.

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o@oooooo ooo oooooooonwomvo @OaOOOQOOOOO 5 ATTORNEY UNID STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD H. HEBERN, 0F.OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOB, BY MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS, TO H. 8: H. PATENTDEVELOPING COMPANY, OF OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA,

A CORPORATION OF CALIFORNIA.

MEANS FOR INTERPRETING coma MESSAGES.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD H. HEBERN,

a citizen of the United States, residing .at

Oakland, in the county of Alameda and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Means for Interpreting Code Messages, of which the following is a specification.

The ob]ect of the present invention is to provide a cheap and simple device for quickly and conveniently ascertaining the numerals or other characters which are indicated by the respective locations of the severalperforations or marks made in or on a check or other document for the pur-- pose of secretly transmitting to the receiver or ayer of the check or document a further indication, besides the actual writing thereon, 'of the magnitude of the amount for which the check is drawn, or other important facts relating thereto, thus pn'eventing' the success of fraudulent alteration of the check or document. 1

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a plan view of the device; Fig. 2 is a diagram of the electrical connections.

Referring to the drawing, 1 indicates a plate of insulating material, of thickness sufficient to contain the numerous conducting wires employed in my improved device. In suitable sockets in the upper surface of said plate are inserted contacts 2, arranged in rows and columns, each column containing the same number of contacts, twelve being ordinarily sufficient, namely, those corresponding to the ten digits, and the signs -of the dollar and the dash. In recesses ina convenient portion of said plate are inserted.

electricjlamps. 3 of the same number'as those of .tl' 'e'contacts in each'column, said lamps being properly marked to show respectively,

when illuminated, the ten digits, the dollar sign and the dash. One pole of each lamp is connected by a wire 4 and branch wires 5v with one-contact in each column, and the other pole of each lamp is connected by a wire G with one sideof a battery Z,5'the other side of which is connected by a flexible wire 8 with apencil-shaped conductor'o'rstylus 9. It is evident that when the point of the stylus touches the contact 2, in any one of the rolumns, which is connected by its wires 5 nd 4 with the electric lamp showing, say, the digit 6, a circuit is closed therethrough,

Specification of Letters Patent.

PatentedMay 12, 1914.

Application filed March 11, 1912. Serial N 0. 682,933.

and said lamp is illuminated and the digit (3 appears vividly.

The orders int-he several columns of the contacts 2 which are connected wit-h the respective lamps are by no means the same, nor, do they difler-from one another according to any-system or regular succession, but they are quite fortuitous in character, so

that it cannot be inferred from an acquired knowledge of theorder of these contacts for any number of columns, what is, or is likely to be, the order or succession for another" column. Covering all the conductors 2 is a sheet 10 of felt or other suitable fabric or inaterial which can readily be penetrated by the stylus. v i

In'the simplest mode of use of the invention, the drawer of the check or other document, either by hand, or, preferably, by a suitable perforating or marking machine arranged to advance automatically the check .or other document, each time that it, is

marked or perforated, thr'ougha specified 4 distance corresponding to the distance between the twoadjacentco'lumns of the conductors 2 so as to move it into a position for a further mark or perforation, marks or perforates the check in locations correspondmg to the information that he desires to secretly transmit. Thus, su 'posi'lng that the check is drawn for $6789, t a drawer, who is provided with a suitable instrument for that purpose, marks on the check, first, the dollar sign, in a position corresponding transversely thereon to the position in the first column of the contact 2 which serves to illuminate the dollar sign. He then advances the paper a longitudinal distance corresponding to the distance between the first and second columns, then marks or perforates the same at a point corre sponding transversely -to the position of the contact in said column for the lamp showing I the digit 6, and so on for the other figures, 'finally marking or perforating the check at the position corresponding transversely-" to the osition in the-sixth column of the contact eading to the lamp showing the sign I When it is necessary to interpret the message thus secretly transmitted, the drawee, or other person usingthis device, places the check so that the/first perforation can lie over the first column of contacts 2, and so that its upper edge will be coincident with a predetermined line, as that marked 11 in Fig. 1, and then applies the point of thestylus 9 to the first perforation on the left through the check and penetrates the feltor other cover 10. He thereby completes vthe circuit through the lampv tion of the check.

For the successful use of the device it is not necessary that the check be actually perforated, as, in place of perforations, marks in the same locations may equally well be used, said marks serving to indicate where the st lus should be applied to penetrate both tlie check and the felt cover, and thus close the circuit.

In some cases checks drawn by the same individual or bank pass through the hands of, or are accessible to, persons who might, by observing the locations of the perforations therein, and comparing them with the amounts of the respective checks, acquire a lmowledge of the code used by the drawer, and thus'be enabled to fraudulently raise a subsequent check, by filling in the identifyin perforations in the paper, and making 0t jer perforations to correspond with the increased amount. In the simplest use of the inventiombefore described, there are required only twelve columns and twelve rows of contacts, but to guard against such fraudulent practice I may increase the number of columns and the number of rows to any extent desired, there being here shown 24 columns. By this means there are provided thirteen codes, instead of only one code, for the check may be placed not only so that the first perforation is in the first column, but in any one of the first thirteen columns. All that is necessary, is that the drawer and drawee of the check should have a secret understanding of the-manner in which the check is to be perforated or-marked by the drawer, and the perforations or marks interpreted by the drawee. It is obvious that the number of different codes can also be increased by increasing the number of rows of contacts, re-

peating, in cyclical order, in eachcolumn,

the contacts connected to the several-lamps.

I claim:- Y An apparatus of the character described, having a series of characters, a flat surface upon which may be laid a check or other document having perforations or marks indicating by their position a message to be transmitted, said apparatus having at said surface a plurality of'series of devices for selectively displaying said characters, the order of the characters respectively displayed by the devices in eachseries being fortuitous, and being different for all the series, and means, adapted to cooperate with any one of said devices to display the corresponding character.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

' EDWARD H. HEBERN. Witnesses:

FRANCIS M. WRIGHT, D. B. RIoHARDs. 

